Thursday, November 19, 2009

Pasta with Sweet Potato, Chickpeas and Feta

This is the kind of dish that pleases me at several levels. It has lots of flavor, is kid friendly, inexpensive and seasonally appropriate. And it's pretty. But you can't see that because everyone was so hungry that we ate everything before I could get a picture.

Pasta with sweet potato, chickpeas and feta

1 lb pasta (I like bigger shapes for this, like rotini or penne)

1-2 T. butter or olive oil, or a combination

1 large sweet potato, diced into 1/4 inch pieces

1/2 large red onion, chopped

1 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

3 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press

4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

Heat water to a boil. Salt generously and add pasta

Melt butter/oil in pan. Saute onion and sweet potato until caramelized a bit and potato is just soft all the way through (8-10 minutes). I put the lid on the pan for part of the early cooking, then take it off for the last few minutes.

Add garlic and stir until fragrant (30 seconds)

Add chickpeas and cook until heated through.

Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 c up cooking water.

Mix pasta with vegetable mix, add feta and as much of the hot pasta water as you need to make it all creamy.